Into the record bugs

Biggest ever ... Weta bug found in NZ

AN EXPLORER has found the biggest insect ever on record - so large it can scoff a carrot.

She's called a Weta Bug and has a huge wing span of SEVEN inches and weighs as much as three mice.

Former park ranger Mark Moffett, 55, discovered the cricket-like creature up a tree on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island.

He spent two days searching for the creepy crawly which were thought to be extinct after Europeans brought rats to the island many years ago.

American Mark, 53, said: "Three of us walked the trails of this small island for two nights scanning the vegetation for a giant weta.

Huge ... insect weighs as much as three mice

"We spent many hours with no luck finding any at all, before we saw her up in a tree.

"The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found.

"She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away.

"She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn't want to risk indigestion.

"After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her."

Mark, from Colorado, added: "We bug lovers hear a lot of people who think insects are inferior in some way because of their size, so it was great to see such a big insect.

"This became all the more amazing when we realised that this was the largest insect recorded."

Superman comic sells for £1.4m

Record ... original Superman edition

THE first comic book to ever feature Superman has been sold for a record £1.4MILLION — reportedly by cash-strapped Hollywood star Nicolas Cage.

The Action Comics No.1 introduced the iconic superhero to the world in 1938 and cost just ten cents at the time.

Con Air star Cage famously bought a copy of the collector's item — of which there are only around 100 in existence for £96,000 in 1997 — when he was set to appear in a Superman film directed by Tim Burton.

It is said the comic that was sold was stolen in 2000 and recovered in a California storage shed in April this year — just like an issue owned by Cage.

Seller? ... Nicolas Cage

Cage — who is so obsessed with the Man of Steel he named his six-year-old son Kal-El, Superman's birth name — had to pay to get it back because the insurance company had already settled up.

The actor — who used to command millions for his films — is believed to have had to flog the comic after getting into financial trouble.

Two years ago Cage sued his former business manager, Samuel Levine, for allegedly squandering his fortune on bad investments.

Since then he has been sued by the taxman, banks and finance companies, and even his ex-girlfriend, Christina Fulton, the mother of his 20-year-old son, Weston.

He has lost several properties through foreclosure and sold off others, including two in England and a castle in Bavaria, to try to pay his bills.

Only a handful of the Action Comics No 1 still in existence are thought to be in a good condition.

Another copy of the same issue sold for a previous record price of £950,000 in March last year.

But that one was not said to be in as good condition as the copy sold yesterday through New York-based ComicConnect.

Ferrari FF Neiman Marcus Sold Out in 50 Minutes

The special edition of the Ferrari FF showcased in the annual Neiman Marcus Chrismas Book, was sold within fifty minutes on Thursday, October 27, 2011.

Despite a price tag of $395,000 (or $95k more than a dealer-purchased Ferrari FF), the 10 available cars sold out in less than an hour!

The Neiman Marcus FF will come in an elegant Grigio Caldo exterior color and with a matching luggage set to compliment the Ferrari’s treated leather interior.

To top off the package is an awesome Ferrari Winter Driving Experience that will be held in Aspen, Colorado.

You don’t even have to flog your own FF through the Colorado snow; it’s an arrive-and-drive program, using Ferrari’s FFs instead of your own.

Individuals who ordered the Ferrari FF Neiman Marcus also get the added bonus of receiving their cars by spring of 2012 (much sooner than normal FF buyers).

Source: motorauthority

2013 Hennessey Venom Spyder

Performance has released the first image and details for the Venom GT Spyder, the open top variant of the Venom GT Coupe.

A massive 1,200 bhp (895 kW / 1217 PS) is produced by the Venom GT Spyder’s engine and the model’s weight is stated to be 1,200 kg ( 2,645 lbs ).

Pricing for the coupe is set at $950,000 whereas the Spyder will cost $1.1 million.

Source: Worldcarfans

Kek Krismas paling panjang di dunia

KEK terpanjang di dunia dipamerkan di sebuah hotel di Shanghai semalam.

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SHANGHAI - Seramai 80 orang tukang masak membantu mengukur kek Krismas paling panjang di dunia di sebuah hotel di sini semalam.

Kek itu yang sepanjang 1,068 meter berperisa vanila dan mengandungi coklat diiktiraf dalam rekod Guinness sebagai yang terpanjang di dunia.

Ia dibuat sempena satu majlis kebajikan bagi mengutip derma untuk kanak-kanak yang menghidap kanser. - Agensi

K-Pop mahu kuasai dunia

BEBERAPA anggota kumpulan K-Pop, Girls Generation membuat persembahan pada majlis pembukaan empat saluran televisyen kabel di Seoul semalam.

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LONDON - Selepas melonjak popular di Asia, generasi muda bintang pop Korea Selatan yang dikenali sebagai K-Pop kini berusaha menakluki dunia dengan muzik mereka.

Sejumlah bintang Korea Selatan itu pernah membuat persembahan pentas di London dan New York.

Seorang pakar senario muzik Asia, Steve McClure berkata, dia percaya K-Pop memiliki peluang lebih cerah menembusi pasaran dunia berbanding muzik pop Jepun.

Menurut McClure, berbanding Jepun, pasaran muzik di Korea Selatan terhad dengan sebahagian besar pendapatan penyanyinya dikawal firma telekomunikasi tempatan yang menaja mereka.

Justeru, katanya, penyanyi Korea Selatan lebih fokus untuk mencari pasaran di luar negara untuk menambah pendapatan mereka.

Contoh terbaik ialah kumpulan K-Pop ialah Girls Generation apabila 500,000 unit album pertama mereka dijual di Jepun.

Selain itu, menurutnya, bintang K-Pop bersikap lebih profesional dan menghasilkan muzik lebih baik daripada pesaing mereka dari Jepun. - Reuters